Legally, blue and red are OK. Orange is the fastest, but most dangerous. My decision would be based on the traffic of the intersection more than anything else. 0 cars in both directions (N-S and E-W)? I'll take orange. Light traffic? Blue should be OK. Heavy traffic, Red.

I have almost exactly the same scenario near the local high school. I take the blue option whenever I can, but I won't do it if there's a car in the turning lane (not the nicest thing to do, jumping to the front of the line like that). I use the red option occasionally when the traffic is bad, or in the aforementioned car-in-the-turning-lane scenario.

I'd want to know more about the left turn lane. Is this a 2 lane raod in that direction where one then turns left or is it the more common one lane and the left turn lane starts about 100 feet back or so. If the second then the blue option sounds good, but if there were 2 lanes and now one is left turn I'd forget about the blue option as that kind of thing has cars coming fast into the turn.

As with others any of the 3 might be what I'd choose depending on traffic. Orange seems bad at first, but is things are clear then take I'd take it and be out of the potentially bad area as soon as possible.

BTW is there some strange reason why there is no crosswalk on the other side? If there could only be one it actually makes more sense on the other side.

<snip> is it the more common one lane and the left turn lane starts about 100 feet back or so. <snip>

^ That's it

Originally Posted by Keith99

BTW is there some strange reason why there is no crosswalk on the other side? <snip>

I have no idea. This intersection needs something, because pedestrians even have a hard time crossing.
Vehicles rarely slow down for peds in the crosswalk, and traffic moving south is usually going fast.

I think red is the best. Blue is debatable. Orange is a no-no for sure.
Red follows "pedestrian" traffic laws all the way except for the very end when it transitions to vehicular laws (takes to the roadway instead of continuing to the sidewalk/trail. This is not illegal however the utmost caution must be taken during these "transition" areas.

Blue has me unsure. First is the transition from "pedestrian" laws to vehicular laws. Then the blue line crosses a solid white line. I was under the impression that solid white lines indicated areas where there should be no lane changes (like at intersections). The Blue line in essence makes a drastic lane change here, and then negotiates a left turn lane.

If wanted to remain (as much as possible) in the "pedestrian" realm, I guess RED is the best.
If wanted to shift to vehicular traffic, my BLUE path would have been to turn south on the walk/trail and go a short distance to negotiate a safe transition to north bound vehicular traffic. Then as northbound vehicular traffic, I would have made a lane change (prior to the white line) to the left turn lane and then followed the BLUE path the rest of the way.

If I really had to go through it, my route would depends a lot on traffic:

- I would follow the orange line if there is a gap in traffic (cars, bikes and pedestrians) in all directions at once.
- If there isn't a gap, I would ride to the North (i.e. not cross any street). I would either do a circuitous route or a safe U-turn (a 3-step turn, probably) at the next signalled intersection.

The blue line lets you cross 1/2 of the road in a vehicular fashion, but the first part is a bit hard to do because one needs to stop and turn 90° right in the middle of a traffic lane. Try to do that with a tandem or triplet... As for walking the bike (red line), I'm not fond of it. I have much better control of the bike if I ride it at walking or crawling speed then if I walk it.

But quite frankly, there must be a road access to that campus somewhere? That's what I would use.

I voted blue line and that's what I would do in heavy traffic, but as I voted, I admitted to myself that if it was clear sailing, I would probably get lazy and take the direct gold/orange route instead.

<snip> The blue line lets you cross 1/2 of the road in a vehicular fashion, but the first part is a bit hard to do because one needs to stop and turn 90° right in the middle of a traffic lane. Try to do that with a tandem or triplet... As for walking the bike (red line), I'm not fond of it. <snip>

That's the dilemma, and why I thought this was an interesting question - obviously has no 'right' answer.

I voted red. By following the blue line, you're actually changing lanes across a solid white line into a lane with marked turn arrows, which is illegal. If a cyclist were to get hit somehow while doing that, guess who would be blamed for the accident?

I voted red. By following the blue line, you're actually changing lanes across a solid white line into a lane with marked turn arrows, which is illegal. If a cyclist were to get hit somehow while doing that, guess who would be blamed for the accident?